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Saturday, October 25, 2014

NoQS Minion 9: POISON APPLES, YA cont with Magical Realism

Title: POISON APPLES

Genre: YA contemporary with magical realism

Word count: 68,000

My Main Character's Most Fearsome Obstacle:

For Bianca Snow, the truth is the Grand Canyon of obstacles—terrifying, and almost impossible to avoid. Snow can’t let her classmates notice the animals that follow her everywhere—school included. It’s not like Doctor DoLittle got a date to the prom.

Query:

Sixteen-year old Bianca Snow has a hot boyfriend, a thriving social life and a pesky habit of attracting wildlife that’s poised to ruin everything. The clusters of animals that follow her everywhere might be cute in animation—in high school, they’re humiliating.

When an affectionate family of opossums overtly trails Snow during a class camping trip, her embarrassed boyfriend dumps her and her social status plunges. Vowing to escape the social exile that follows, Snow enters the high school talent show, sure her beautiful singing voice can distract the school—and her ex—from her less conventional talent. But when the show brings her close to Will DeMarche, a kind and handsome cello-playing senior, Snow wishes her voice could win Will instead.

Then Will’s youngest brother goes missing. If Snow keeps quiet, she can win the talent show and her old life back. Or she can ask the animals to find the little boy, and prove to the school—and Will—she’s exactly the freak they imagine.

First 250 Words:

You can’t kill someone at a bake sale.Death and dessert don’t mix. But as the too-blonde curls and too-tight shirt leaned closer to my boyfriend—ex-boyfriend—than cupcake sales required, the prohibition crumbled. With every giggle, Josie Connor was killing me.

I slumped against the metal chair and glared futile daggers from behind the streamer-lined table. No amount of crepe paper could dress up this disaster. Beside me, ever-loyal Mari skimmed a cookie and passed me half, her thin fingers amber against my ivory skin. Under the glare of the gym lights, I looked even paler than usual. Nothing like tan, blonde, bouncy-boobed Josie.

I chomped down on the cookie as if it had decimated my love life. “How can she flirt so blatantly? She knows how much I like Lance. She knows how good we are together.”

I didn’t answer. As usual, Mari was right—technically Lance had dumped me on an unfortunately well-attended camping trip. But we were the real deal. Or had been. One miserable evening shouldn’t erase everything.

I fixed my eyes on the travesty across the gym and shoved the last bit of cookie into my mouth. Peanut butter? Butterscotch? Halfway through a bake sale, the flavors ran together.